


craft fairs and corn mazes

by xeternalsunshine



Series: as the seasons change [3]
Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Crime, Developing Relationship, F/M, Family, Fluff, Implied Smut, season: fall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-10-28 10:31:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20777105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xeternalsunshine/pseuds/xeternalsunshine
Summary: Annie and Ruby mess up a pill pickup & Beth/Rio go to Canada. "She felt bad as soon as it happened. You have to believe that".





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> part 3 of the series ~ thanks for reading/ the comments and kudos <3 eek hope you enjoy!

"You need to handle it".

Beth had been sick, sitting on the ground, hugging the toilet bowl sick and couldn't do the pill pickup in Canada. Being the great friends that they are, Annie and Ruby agreed to go to the border and get them using Sarah's brownie troop as a cover. Beth vaguely remembered saying it was a good idea. 

"This is why you in charge mama".

Ruby and Annie had gotten the pills and placed them inside the cooler without a hitch, only for Ruby to have a freak-out moment. She dumped the boxes into a trashcan at the nursing home and didn't tell Annie until they went to unload on the other side of the border.

"She felt bad as soon as it happened. You have to believe that".

"Do I? You know what I know?" she shook her head as he got closer to her "I know an extra 15% went into Margaret's pocket coz she had to dig through their trash".

Beth looked down at the ground unaware that Rio had to clean up a portion of the mess already.

"Bags of adult diapers and food, she didn't like that much".

"Ok, I'll fix it".

"Cool" his eyes fixated on her lips and within seconds she had her arms wrapped around his neck. Call her crazy, but there was something about their business arguments she couldn't get enough of. 

A quickie in the kitchen wasn't what they had planned either, but Beth was near the sink and flashbacks had taken over. She had tried it with Dean, but it wasn't the same. She needed to replace those memories with fresh, good ones.

Facing the window Beth hiked up her dress showing off her light pink panties and just like in the bar, Rio didn't need to be asked twice.

She tried to catch her breath, barely getting out "so I'll go to Canada then?".

He bit his bottom lip reevaluating the situation "we".

"We?".

"After that sweetheart" he played with the bottom of her dress "it's we".

Beth slapped his hand playfully, she liked that he was tagging along- he never did, at least not up north. They had been together on some smaller drops and meeting with local businesses about washing their cash, but usually Canada was reserved for her and the girls.

"And the girls?".

She got her answer when he shook his head, the girls stay in Detroit- got it.

Two days later the girls were at Beth's house helping her pack for the mini trip. It was supposed to be to and from, but Big Mike wanted to meet with Rio on the new shipments, so plans change.

"Are you sure its fine B?".

"Yea, was he pissed?".

Beth dropped the folded shirt inside her floral bag "a little, I mean he's still Rio".

She grabbed two pairs of jeans, a bathrobe and peeked inside her underwear drawer picking out two lace combos and a more practical one for the meeting.

"Only a little, that's a good sign.. right?". 

Ruby sat down on the bed next to her and joined in folding the shirts.

"Mommy your friends here" Emma ran into the room, turning the door knob back and forth. 

"Thanks baby".

Annie looked at her sister "a night with gang friend huh?". She reached into the nightstand behind her "you'll need these" passing her a handful of condoms.

"Annie, how did you even know those were there?".

"Guessed you'd have em in every drawer, should I try the kitchen?".

"No, you shouldn't".

Annie started laughing and Ruby couldn't help but join in as Beth's face went through several stages of red.

It was a long 5 hour drive until they saw the checkpoint, you are now entering Canada the sign read. 

She couldn't help but notice the way the border security looked at her then Rio and back to her, as if he was trying to solve a puzzle that didn't need solving. All the glances he gave his coworkers when Rio's neck tattoo was visible from their booth. It angered Beth; he might do stuff that was technically illegal, so did she, but he wasn't a bad person.

"What's the reason for your visit ma'am?".

Rio let out a breathy laugh and turned his focus to the gate in front of him. He was in the drivers seat and was being treated as invisible.

"Honeymoon" she grabbed his hand off the wheel making sure the guard saw it "he's taking me to the craft fair, so sweet huh?".

The border guard gave them an amused smile and passed their passports back through the driver's window. 

"How did you stay calm?, he was judging us?".

"Judging me ma, used to it I guess".

"Well he can fuck himself" he turned his head enough to see she was still irate. He reached over the center console to take her hand in his, resting them on her leg for the rest of the drive.

They pulled up to a hotel close to the craft store, it had at least 20 floors and valet parking which Rio declined.

"I still can't believe that guy" Beth huffed dropping her bag on the bed. A single king size bed and she tried not to think too much into it. 

"Ain't gonna ruin the honeymoon".

Beth laughed remembering that was the reason she gave the guy. She wasn't sure how that was the first thing out of her mouth, but it felt right.

"Now" he sat at the end of the bed and gestured for her to come closer. With her now standing between his legs, Beth felt his hands trail from her knee to the back of her thighs and back down again. "Whatchu wanna do?".

"Split the next drops? I have a list of the vin numbers-".

"You brought the vins?".

"I- yeah".

He smacked her ass and got up to grab his phone from his bag. "Ok".

She unrolled the calendar and dropped a bunch of pens, stickers and tape from a plastic bag.

"I like to be organized, you're the same way".

"Nah I don't use rose stickers, hell those for?".

"The drops we do together, now-" she took the sticker pack from his hand and laid it back on the mattress. Their drops used to be marked R, but Dean had caught on. After he took the kids Beth wanted, no needed to be more discreet. 

"Why a rose?".

Beth let out a sigh putting the lid back on the blue permanent marker. "Cause R, Rio and- Annie said its like a date" she purposely mumbled the last few words together.

"Annie said what?".

A sound more frustrated than the last unintentionally slipped from her lips "a date, they're our dates". She avoided his eyes and went back to writing her portion of vin numbers onto the delivery calendar. 

Rio tried to bite back a smile, he really did, but Beth's excessive use of glittery star stickers to keep herself busy prevented him from hiding it.

"Look at me" he tilted her chin up to face him.

"Forget I said anything, I mean it was Annie who said it". 

He shook his head and pressed his lips to hers "nah I'm not forgettin" brushing a stray piece of hair from her face. 

"You're going to rip my hard work" her eyes flickered down to the calendar. 

"Toss it off the bed and get outta those pants". 

She wasn't sure if it was his voice or the way his eyes were piercing through her, but she did. Carelessly tossing her pants to the ground she heard the paper tear.

"We fix it later" Rio pulled his shirt up over his head and climbed on top of her. 

He had his arm across Beth's stomach and she felt the need to brush her fingers against his. All her attention was on the ring finger and she constantly wondered if he had been married before, if he'd want to label this thing between them or if she'd want to be remarried if it was to Rio.

If it was to Rio? yes she would, in a heartbeat.

He kissed her cheek and pulled away , earning a groan from Beth as she tried to grab his hand to pull him back to her. 

"We got the meeting with Mike".

"Ugh, that's today? why did you start this if you're going to make me put clothes back on?".

Rio laughed "you don't gotta, but if Mike stares imma shoot him in the face" he grabbed his gun and hid it in the waistband of his pants "you want that?".

She quickly shook her head and went to gather her clothes, not even bothering to wrap the sheet around her. Ruby was already scared enough from shooting Mike in the foot, hearing Beth got him killed for showing up to a meeting naked would traumatize her for life.

"Good, i'm not sharin" Beth smiled, fastening the last button on her blouse. 

The meeting flew by, Mike just needed reassurance that Turner was not onto the money. They learned he didn't trust phones, believing if the FBI suspected them their phones were already tapped.

Beth dozed off during the drive back home, her face pressed to the window. With every bump her head bounced against it. At the next stop light Rio lightly moved her back to the headrest, the last thing he wanted was her to get back home with a couple black eyes because she needed a nap.

"Elizabeth" she slowly opened her eyes attempting to adjust to the light.

"We're home? that was fast".

Home. Beth realized she often referred to her house as there's.

"Nah, they got this craft fair".

She saw him tilt his head toward her window and she peeked out to see several small tents set up on the block, each with a different vendor. 

"Rio I-".

"Happy wife, happy life right? Come on ma".

Beth quickly got out to meet him at the front of the car. She had looked up the craft fair as a cover and the more she read about it, the more she wanted to go. However they were there for business not pleasure, so she wiped that from the agenda. 

"How did you know it was this one?".

"Not hard to google".

Beth rushed up to the first tent full of oil paintings and then over to a few others with bead-work, hand woven baskets and clothing. 

"Oh soap, you think Ruby would like a dolphin shaped bar?" She asked Rio who raised his eyebrows "you're probably right, I'll think of something else".

He smiled as she ran to a few more stores, picking up small gifts for all the kids, Annie and Ruby. A jewelry stand caught his attention which was rare because he didn't do crafting, never did and never would.

Rio peeked over to see Beth was still occupied with a candle booth. Looking at the selection he noticed one ring in particular that screamed Elizabeth. It had a big diamond in the middle surrounded by 6 smaller ones, a flower. 

As she started to make her way over, he thanked the vendor and tucked the small box into his back pocket.

"Buy everyone out?".

She rolled her eyes and handed him 3 of the bags. 

"I had to make sure everyone had something. I couldn't leave Annie out accidentally, I wouldn't hear the end of it".

After setting all the bags in the trunk, Beth settled in the passenger seat "you want me to drive or something?". Rio was at a stand still outside of the car, the box burning a hole in his pocket.

Once in the drivers seat he turned to her and pulled it out, laying it between the cup holders. 

"Did you get the craft fever?" she joked.

"Just open it. It's for you".

Rio briefly focused on the steering wheel, the dust free radio, anything that would stop his mind from racing. There was a deafening silence from beside him and he started to think he misread her feelings towards him.

"I love it".

She had already taken it out of the box and slipped it on her ring finger. Moving it towards the light she admired it further watching the stones glisten.

"Will you-" he paused, as she looked at him expectantly "- be my partner?".

"I thought you'd never ask" she let out a small giggle and reached across the console giving him a peck on the lips. They were already partners, but that was due to her strong- arming him into a 50/50 deal. 

"You do? ain't no goin back" he pushed, secretly liking the way the ring looked on her finger.

"I do!". 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beth tells Annie/Ruby about the craft fair & a family outing happens.  
or  
"Rio and I are taking the kids to a corn maze. Its got a pumpkin patch at the finish line".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading /Kudos & comments on chapter 1 I loved reading them.  
tiffswonderland & Chayilmarie <3, MissTricey aww thanks too sweet & as for which hand you'll find out soon, s_t_c_s aww thanks I couldn't pass up adding Big Mike into it, Rio's a softy.

"He did what?".

"You're kidding right?".

Beth shook her head and showed the girls the flower-shaped ring Rio had given her at the craft fair. Every morning she would reach for a coffee mug and have to take a second glance, it didn't seem real. It felt as if she was in a dream that she didn't want to wake up from.

Beth remembered the exact day Dean had proposed. They had been together for four years and he promised to be there for her and Annie, that was all she wanted. And sure, she loved him or was in love with the idea of him, but Beth wasn't the same person she was in highschool and neither was he. That ring had been pawned to pay back Rio when they jumped into the deep end of the crime world without a life vest.

_It belonged to his grandmother._

_How much do you hate him?_

_A lot._

"It's not an engagement, don't get ahead of yourselves" Beth reiterated "it's for our partnership".

"So gang friend is getting us somethin?".

"No".

"So it's not for the partnership" Annie mocked Beth giving her best told you so face. 

"Yeah B, homie got it bad".

Beth pulled her left hand away and got back to what she had planned next, the food. 

"Mommy can I wear this?" Jane jumped off the bottom stair in her tiger onesie. 

"No honey, but you can wear that tonight okay?".

Jane nodded and made her way back upstairs. Beth opened up the refrigerator and pulled out a package of Turkey and five slices of cheese. She could feel Ruby and Annie's eyes on the back of her head "what?".

"Wear it where?". 

She dipped the knife into the mayonnaise and started to spread it across the slices of bread "Rio and I are taking the kids to a corn maze. Its got a pumpkin patch at the finish line".

"Rio and I? you hear that Ruby?".

"I did... and what?".

Putting the two finished sandwiches into a lunch box she counted six more slices from the loaf of bread, only three more to go.

"Yeah, he saw a sign on the way back from Canada and thought it'd be fun for the kids"

"And gang friend didn't invite us? we got kids" Annie asked "I'm offended. No ring, pumpkins or corn mazes".

The smile Beth saw when she looked up showed her sister was anything but upset. 

"So he's different around you, huh? you don't feel like you need to wear diapers when he's around?" Ruby asked grabbing a bag of potato chips from the pantry to help with what was slowly becoming a picnic basket. 

"I mean he's still our boss" she took the baggies from Ruby's hand and laid them on top of the sandwich boxes "he still scares a bunch of the crime world, us included".

"Please sister. Ruby all but vomits when he stares at her and you know what you two do".

The kids filed downstairs one by one. Kenny had his skateboard under his arm even though he was told it would be on grass and Emma had a backpack full of Barbie dolls.

"Did you guys want to go?".

Ruby shook her head while Annie thought about it for a couple minutes.

"Seeing you and gang friend all lovey dovey, no thanks" her voice dropped to a whisper.

"Well now that you say that, hold on. I want to see that" after taking a second to revisit the idea, Ruby realized this might be the only chance to see it. Beth never gave details just cliff notes on their relationship, and the little they saw during drops only heightened their curiosity. 

"Greg has Sadie, but I'm in" she stole a couple stray chips that had fallen on the counter. 

Ruby had just enough time to grab Harry and get back to Beth's house before they left. Sara wanted to go over to a friends house instead, so Stan offered to take her.

"I made Harry a ham sandwich, it's still his favorite right?" Ruby nodded as Beth laid it with the others.

"Where's ga\- Rio?".

"He's on his way. Marcus wanted to bring some drawings to show Jane".

Annie looked at Beth then to Jane, like mother like daughter. 

"Ladies?"

Rio walked in with Marcus glued to his side, taken back by the others in the kitchen.

"Wrong day?, m'sure you said Saturday mami".

Annie mouthed mami adding a shimmy with her shoulders as Ruby watched on.

"No it's right, they wanted to tag along.. if that's fine".

He gave a slight nod as Marcus pulled away from his leg "Jane" as if he just caught sight of her behind the tall stool.

The drive was long and filled with awkwardness, looking back she probably should have asked him before inviting them. Annie rode with Ruby following closely behind the mini van as Rio ran through a yellow light. They were sure it was on purpose because a text popped up "sorry, go straight he's slowed down now".

They arrived at a large corn field and were passed a map with a kernel labeled you are here. "Oh that's helpful, does this shit move with you?" Annie rotated the map in her hands.

Beth laughed along with the kids taking Annie's phone and opening the compass app. They needed to walk in the directions written on the map to get out and she had an unlimited data plan.

The kids ran ahead of the bunch touching the walls as they went by. "Daddy can we eat this?".

"Nah pop it's for the game".

This was a side of Rio that they only saw once, when he revealed he had a son for the first time. Every other meeting at the park or Beth's house was just the two of them, Ruby and Annie got the information a day or so later. For them to see him out and about without his gun, or so they hoped, was almost like seeing an animal in their natural habitat. 

"Silly Marcus" Emma tapped his shoulder "you're it".

"Can I play mom?" Harry pulled on Ruby's hand watching as the other kids made it to a scarecrow with an orange hat.

"Yeah, yea".

Harry ran toward the others screaming for them to wait and Marcus was the first to stop. When he caught up, Marcus tapped his shoulder "you it".

"Clever like his dad huh?" Annie commented, walking further ahead than the other three.

They had to backtrack a couple times after Annie led them astray despite having a compass in hand. Hitting the half mile marker there was a fork in the maze with two arrows that were not reflected on the map.

"Mom do we go there or there?" Danny pointed to both paths and his guess would have been as good as hers.

Ruby took the map from Annie's hands and pointed to the right path because the finish line was on the right side of the paper, that made the most sense.

"I want to be up high" Jane stood in front of Rio with her arms in the air. Beth tried to tell her she'd carry her, but he had already lifted her up onto his shoulders. Jane's giggles echoed as she folded her hands on top of Rio's head bringing a big smile to Beth's face. 

After what felt like five hours, but according to their phones was only one, they made it to the finish line. The kids were each given a decorative pin and a pass for a free pumpkin. They darted off to find their favorite one, while the adults stayed off to the side. 

Ruby took out her phone and started to take pictures as they ran around exchanging pumpkins with one another. "Daddy I can't lift this one".

"Then you don't need it Pop".

"But daddy" Marcus whined causing Rio to huff and join the kids on the field.

"I'm glad I tagged along today".

"Me too, now you won't want to shit your pants around him".

Annie snorted "she still will, you know that". 

Beth looked out at the pumpkin patch watching the kids with one each in their arms. Rio shook his head when he caught her eyes on him, he was carrying a bigger one that Marcus wouldn't part with. 

"You remember when you said you never looked at Dean the way I look at Stan?" 

Beth nodded unsure of where her best friend was going with that random comment.

"I think you found that someone".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what's next: Halloween - I can't stop thinking about family costumes


End file.
